Back in 2008, Volvo announced its “Vision 2020” safety endeavor, which proffered that Volvo would put cars on the road by 2020 in which no one will be killed or seriously injured. This would involve more than just airbags, crumple zones, collision warnings, and automatic braking, of course, and even goes beyond car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication. To put the next piece of this safety puzzle in place as 2020 looms in the not too distant future, Volvo has turned its beady little eyes—in the form of small LED infrared lights in the dashboard—back on the driver to monitor his or her attention and alertness.

Volvo says that it is currently testing vehicles equipped with so-called “driver state estimation” technology, which casts infrared light upon the driver’s face, monitored by sensors that detect the driver’s eye gaze, head movement, head angle, and how open his or her eyes are. Since infrared light is just outside the wavelengths that the human eye can see, the person behind the wheel doesn’t notice it at all, Volvo says. If the system determines the driver is sleepy or inattentive, it can “adjust the car accordingly,” changing the parameters by which its lane keeping, collision warning, adaptive cruise control, and other systems operate.

“Since the car is able to detect if a driver is not paying attention, safety systems can be adapted more effectively,” said Per Landfors, Volvo’s project leader for driver support functions. “For example, the car’s support systems can be activated later on if the driver is focused, and earlier if the driver’s attention is directed elsewhere.”

Volvo also touts “other possibilities” made possible by the technology. By monitoring eye movements, for example, the car would be able to adjust both interior and exterior lighting to follow the direction in which the driver is looking. And with facial recognition, the car could automatically adjust the seat to one’s preferred setting, and, we imagine, other settings currently tied to a vehicle’s key fob. About that latter point, Volvo attempts to reassure us that the sensor would measure different points on the face to identify the driver, would not save any pictures, and that it would not have a “driver surveillance function.”

Volvo says that driver state estimation technology also will play an important role in the introduction of self-driving cars in the future in order to be able to determine whether a driver is alert enough when time comes for him or her to take control.

So in the future, if you have a nagging feeling that someone’s watching you when you’re driving, don’t worry: it’s only your car.